Russell Scott Valentino

Sense of Self

If Mr Confidence has a senseof self it is a
social science selfnot an identity let alone an Idealike a
garment self Confidence recalls coming to terms for itnot
haggling over much overdetails an off the rack pre-ownedself
this is not like an entity withmoving parts more amoeba-likesoft
and strong substance at once

He would like to think it can be
discarded exchanged for someother like but
perhaps strongerand it’s true at times he almostfeels his
skin peeling back asother different skin takes its placegreen
spotted less permeablepoison to the touch or transparent
revealing tendons leucocytesit does not work that way he knows

Putting on and taking off growstroublesome with age Confidence’s
joints stiffen he likes this shirtthose trousers these fit so too
this self this one grown comfortablelooser in the waist at the
collarfit for any occasion waking sleepinglaughing weeping this
self of his yeseven if it has begun to smell like piss

Russell Scott Valentino

Sisters

The screaming had prettymuch stopped by the
timeyoung Confidence

was old enoughto notice

that
slamming doorsand shattering mirrorsmight not be commonin
other homes

five girls make a village

a suntan lotion mysteriesof mascara
village a pantyhose eyeliner girl friendsvillage the flow of
goodsa hairspray waft a cookievillage an ointment village
and services cakes crusts

knives the only

knives are in the kitchennecklace panty
strewnpies down the main lanea village a wave of words
Confidence and not onlywords a gift economy entire

his brother too

learned to put the toiletseat down or else
and tounderstand how a boymight fall in love notwith a girl
but witha village of girls

Russell Scott Valentino

Mr Confidence Thinks about Trust

About as far as you can throw himwent a
popular form of expressionnow old and fit for bouts of supervised
judoscreaming nearby fans themselves deserve throwing a minor
contortion in the bulky historyof humanity’s fatal errors this is
neithertrust nor intended as trust but has a similarly empty
core ripe for fillingblueberry rhubarb heron-thoughtsperched
beautiful on the breakwatereven if rather smelly from all the
seagull shitcreditors live on faithful

Below down there
somewhereis the earth’s firmness feet plantedwhile we in the
liquids and gaseshigher up though not high enoughinhale and
exhale with the gratitudeof the Sufi between each breath the
silence between is empty in the sameway promised mortgaged the step
we have taken or shall have takenConfidence both loves and hates
the future anterior tense perhapsit
is not silence but noise and allelse is the silence of foreboding

Faith and regret set to musiclots of music with words by Neil
Diamond Donna Summer and the Bee Gees hot hot hot stuff baby
gonna get some rhetoric fills the screen silence and its
accompanists bounce wave their arms frantic for our ears and
eyes and hearts all this silenceConfidence wishes he could watch
and listen the volume on maybe twolike an ethnographer one eye on
his researchquestions rid his mind of the darksilence pushing
out the light

Russell Scott Valentino

Confidence Reflects on Going Blind

When to see a doctor is unclear blurred somehow
by the commonconceit of clouds or fading halos the angelic
photographic wingsof memory dream vision night doubled magic candle
light

RUSSELL SCOTT VALENTINO has authored two
monographs, edited three collections, and translated seven books of
fiction and literary nonfiction from BCS, Italian, and Russian into
English. His essays and translations have appeared in The New York
Times, Modern Fiction Studies, Slavic Review, and elsewhere. He
served as Editor-in-chief at The Iowa Review (2009-13),
President of the American Literary Translators Association (2013-16),
and senior editor at Autumn Hill Books (2005-present). His translation
of Miljenko Jergović’s 2013 novel Kin is forthcoming from
Archipelago Books.